New film festival aims to put New Bedford on the global artistic stage
The inaugural New Bedford Film Festival kicks off this week with a showcase of more than 100 films and projects from across the world.
The festival, taking place Thursday to Sunday, was made possible by local filmmaker Ethan de Aguiar, who hopes to connect creatives from all over the world while simultaneously showing off the “Whaling City” as an artistic hub.
“We’re trying to not only bring outside productions or people into New Bedford to experience it, but when they’re here, also showcase the talent that we have in our backyard,” de Aguiar told the Globe over the phone last week. “[The festival is] very much about highlighting New Bedford, but also helping New Bedford creatives expand outside of the borders of the city.”
For its first year, NBFF will screen films and other video projects at local theaters around the historic city, including Groundwork New Bedford and New Bedford Creative headquarters. The opening ceremony will be held Thursday at the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s Cook Memorial Theater and the closing ceremony will be held at the Steeple Playhouse Sunday.
In addition to all of the films screening at the festival, participants are encouraged to take part in networking events, as well as attend panels with filmmakers. NBFF will also feature an awards ceremony at the end of each day, which will honor the best films in each of the respective categories.
“We want to transform the New Bedford Film Festival as an organization to become a resource and a hub for film and TV productions in the entire South Coast,” de Aguiar said. “It’s also about giving filmmakers the resources and support that they need to make their projects happen so that they get a solid footing and foundation in the industry.”
The first night of the festival also marks the public release of de Aguiar’s “Love Letters for New Bedford,” a documentary short that spotlights testimonials from New Bedford residents who discuss what makes the city such a creative cultural hub.
The documentary short was filmed in 2022, after de Aguiar was brought onto a handful of city projects focused on rejuvenating New Bedford’s creative sector by Margo Saulnier, the director of creative strategies and arts-based initiatives for the New Bedford Economic Development Council. “Love Letters” was completed later that year and has since been submitted to 30 film festivals across the world; it was accepted into 15 and won four awards for best short documentary, according to Saulnier.
After working on the project, de Aguiar was selected as a New Bedford Creative grant recipient, an award given by the New Bedford Economic Development Council and funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (a decision Saulnier was not involved in). This funding helped set the NBFF into motion.
Saulnier and de Aguiar both stressed that the city is a must-see destination for those looking to get a foothold in the creative sector. New Bedford is “the most ethnically diverse and racially diverse city” in the South Coast, Saulnier said, noting how its history as an urban port coupled with its large immigrant population “brought so many cultures here, and with that came a lot of creative people.”
“I really want to reinstall pride in the city and show that we’re a great community,” said de Aguiar. “We might not all agree on everything, but I think that everybody wants to see what’s best for New Bedford, and that’s what connects us.”
The New Bedford Film Festival opens at 6 p.m. on April 18 at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and closes with an awards ceremony at 10:30 p.m. on April 21 at the Steeple Playhouse. More information about the festival can be found on their website at newbedfordfilmfestival.com.